We knew the 2021 Photo of the Year category of the Architecture Photography Awards was going to have some incredible offerings, but wow! Our judges were looking for unforgettable photos that melded technical prowess with masterful storytelling and beautiful design. There were heaps of wonderful photographs submitted, but this list features those images that just had that extra heart and soul that set them apart.
I have recently discovered the power of Lightroom export presets, and wanted to be sure to share them with you! It is an easy way to export images for various usages, and sizes in almost one click. I personally have made three presets that I use all the time: Web, Instagram, and Print.
It’s easy to set up your own presets (you can see my settings below).
This week’s featured project is absolutely stunning.
This curious and charming piece of residential architecture has been masterfully photographed by Luis Abba, an architectural photographer working in Mendoza, Argentina. Luis has documented Alberto Tonconogy & Asociados‘ Casa de Piedra in a way that infuses the photographs with a sense of place and time.
Like many, I started my photography business without a clue of where I wanted to take it, without a support system, and quite frankly, without enough cash in my bank accounts. I was a frustrated artist in a dead-end job, looking to create a brighter future for myself. I also wanted to enjoy what I did, rather than dread every morning commute that led me to a cubicle.
We have been absolutely blown away by the submissions for the first-ever APALMANAC Awards – especially the Early Career and Emerging Talent category.
For being relatively new to the field, so many of you out there are making incredible work that is up there with even the most seasoned pros.
Meet my new friend, Louisville Kentucky based architectural photographer Justin L. Jordan! Justin’s lovely work sports a cleanness and crispness that I admire. While this project itself is different from the majority of his portfolio – which includes a healthy dosage of residential projects, interiors, and glossy renditions of corporate offices and buildings – Justin’s shoot for Louisville’s Waterfront Botanical Gardens fits perfectly in his body of work.
As architectural photographers, we are not wanting for options to get our work recognized. Awards for architectural photography are abundant, with new contests seemingly popping up each year.
Last year was the first year that I decided to submit some of my work to these competitions. I found the process of looking for and reviewing all the information and criteria for the various contests a bit onerous and time-consuming.
Welcome to Casa Silencio, a boutique hotel and Palenque mezcalero for El Silencio mezcal in Xaagá Mexico. This retreat honors the ancient art and ceremonial process of making mezcal. It lies about 50 minutes outside of Oaxaca, inhabiting a former mezcal production facility that has since been overhauled by Mexico-based architect Alejandro D´Acosta.
Hatfields VS McCoys. Jets VS Sharks. Scorpion VS Sub-Zero. Lights on VS Light off in your architectural photos. Will these differences ever be resolved?!
In this video, I do a quick breakdown of how different lighting setups affect the editing process and the final image. Lights off, lights on, flash, ceiling bounce – I go over some of the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Behind-the-scenes content is some of the most enjoyable and informative to consume in my opinion. I love seeing how other photographers go about their business and find this is a great way to quickly pick up new ways of working that I may be able to incorporate into my own work.
Along those lines, everyone’s favorite modern furniture distributor, Design Within Reach, created a short time-lapse film showcasing how they go about creating their product imagery from the ground up.
Today we are heading to a modern family home on Lake Brome by Atelier Pierre Thibault. Wonderful Project of the Week veteran Maxime Brouillet, whose beautiful style you may remember from his photographs of an angular cabin on the St. Laurence river, has masterfully documeneted this tranquil retreat.
Nick Merrick and Steve Hall have been photographing architecture longer than most readers of this blog have been alive (myself included). When you think of some of the most important architectural projects of the last 100 years, Merrick and Hall have probably been there, creating photographs to share the stories of these projects with the world.
While he isn’t specifically in the architectural or interiors niche, Joel Grimes is an impressive photographer.
His portraits, landscapes, and composite images are of the highest quality. You could think of him as a performer in the Champions League of Photographers (sorry, I am European, so translated for my American friends: the Superbowl).
This week’s featured project is a truly brilliant series by Parisian photographer Laurent Kronental. Laurent’s series Souvenir d’un Futur documents the lives of senior citizens who live in “Grands Ensembles” (large housing projects) around Paris.
Shot on 4×5 film, Laurent’s photographs are described as “tinted with melancholic, yet brave disenchantment.
Meet Vienna’s Christian Pichlkastner – a man who wears many hats. Christian studied as an industrial designer and interior designer. He became a talented CGI artist and is now also an architectural photographer. His expansive knowledge of all of these fields makes him such an interesting person to talk with.
I absolutely love cruise vacations! For me, it’s the type of trip where I can mentally check out and worry about little to nothing at all. You have the ability to do as much or as little as you’d like, and on most cruise lines, the guests are treated like royalty. As for the design of the ships themselves, for most of the industry’s existence, it was hard to tell them apart.
In 2021, Architizer voted Ema Peter one of the top 5 architectural photography studios in the world. It is easy to see why. She makes stunning image after image and portrays projects in a way that shows the cleverness of the architecture, as well as its use and relation to humanity. One such project that I particularly love is BlackCliff house by Mcleod Bovell.
Leonit Ibrahimi is an architectural photographer based in Pristina, Kosovo. In this interview, we get into his background and how his path to photography was shaped by creating a massively popular Instagram account @creativefields. Now, Leonit is a professional architectural photographer.
I don’t know how you balance the colors in your images, but here is one thing that I can guess – You are correcting colors differently than I am, and you are doing it differently than you were five years ago in your own workflow.
There are so many tools in Photoshop that keep changing and evolving to help you achieve the right color balance in your images.
Today’s featured project takes us to Konin, Poland where we’ll be checking out a contemporary residence by STOPROCENT Architekci called “K House.”
K House was built over a long span of time. It was started in 2012, and after many unforeseen circumstances and changes, it was finally wrapped up in 2021!
Mike Kelley
Kyrre Sundal
Lexi Taciak
Natalia Robert
Justin Szeremeta
Matthew Anderson
Rob van Esch